what is love?

What is Love?

Space alien
Asks a question
For us humans
What is love?

I don’t know yet
I have thought about it
This much I know
What it ain’t?

Not just madness
Love is not chemistry
It is far more
That is it ?

The Alien smiled
Saying humans are strange
Nothing like them
Anywhere else
Is that the Truth?




Today we are going to play with the "Tanka, Dutch"

The topic is yours to choose from.

Remember: All items must be new, and not exceed the 40-line limit. Make sure to note your line count in your forum post.

Inspired by a friend of mine, who was looking for a Japanese-inspired poetry form. Instead of the normal Tanka, this one has 21 syllables, divided over five lines. It ends with a question in the fifth stanza.

It is built up this way:

xxxx
xxxxxx
xxxx
xxxx
xxx

An example:

old green-haired man
guarding the area
birds making nests
in your branches
do you care?

The Dutch Tanka can be a "stand-alone" poem or written in a chain. When written in a chain, you have to make sure that the question in the previous stanza is answered in the first line of the next stanza.

An example of a Dutch Tanka Chain:

old green-haired man
guarding the area
birds making nests
in your branches
do you care?

yes, I do care
treasuring life in me
I’m their shelter
I nurture them.
what’s your point?

I’m so ashamed
that I have bothered you
you’re important
to the birds, please
forgive me?

© Bianca 2004


Poetry Forms:
http://home.planet.nl/~boons468/Poetry_Forms.html
Some of my art:
http://home.planet.nl/~boons468/Bianca.htm